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52 <H1 class="no-header">curs_terminfo 3x 2023-09-23 ncurses 6.4 Library calls</H1>
54 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> Library calls <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
59 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
60 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>putp</STRONG>, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>,
61 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG>, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>,
62 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> - <EM>curses</EM> interfaces to
63 <EM>terminfo</EM> database
66 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
67 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>
68 <STRONG>#include</STRONG> <STRONG><term.h></STRONG>
70 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*cur_term;</STRONG>
72 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolnames[];</STRONG>
73 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolcodes[];</STRONG>
74 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>boolfnames[];</STRONG>
75 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numnames[];</STRONG>
76 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numcodes[];</STRONG>
77 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>numfnames[];</STRONG>
78 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strnames[];</STRONG>
79 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strcodes[];</STRONG>
80 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>strfnames[];</STRONG>
82 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
83 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*set_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>nterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
84 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>del_curterm(TERMINAL</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>oterm</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
85 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>restartterm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>filedes</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>errret</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
87 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
89 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p1</EM> <EM>...</EM> <STRONG>long</STRONG> <EM>p9</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
91 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tputs(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
92 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>putp(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
94 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidputs(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
95 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vidattr(chtype</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
96 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_puts(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>(*</STRONG><EM>putc</EM><STRONG>)(int));</STRONG>
97 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>vid_attr(attr_t</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>short</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>void</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>opts</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
99 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>mvcur(int</STRONG> <EM>oldrow</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>oldcol</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>newrow</EM>, int <EM>newcol</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
101 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetflag(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
102 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tigetnum(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
103 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tigetstr(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>capname</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
105 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm(const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
107 <EM>/*</EM> <EM>extensions</EM> <EM>*/</EM>
108 <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*tiparm_s(int</STRONG> <EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>...);</STRONG>
109 <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>tiscan_s(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>expected</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>int</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>mask</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>);</STRONG>
112 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
113 These low-level routines must be called by programs that have to deal
114 directly with the <EM>terminfo</EM> database to handle certain terminal
115 capabilities, such as programming function keys. For all other
116 functionality, <EM>curses</EM> routines are more suitable and their use is
119 None of these functions use (or are aware of) multibyte character
120 strings such as UTF-8:
122 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability names use the POSIX portable character set
124 <STRONG>o</STRONG> capability string values have no associated encoding; they are
125 strings of 8-bit characters.
128 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></H3><PRE>
129 Initially, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> should be called. The high-level curses functions
130 <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> call <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to initialize the low-level set of
131 terminal-dependent variables [listed in <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>].
133 Applications can use the terminal capabilities either directly (via
134 header definitions), or by special functions. The header files
135 <STRONG>curses.h</STRONG> and <STRONG>term.h</STRONG> should be included (in this order) to get the
136 definitions for these strings, numbers, and flags.
138 The <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> variables <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> are initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
141 <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <STRONG>use_env(FALSE)</STRONG> has been called, values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG>
142 specified in <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> are used.
144 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Otherwise, if the environment variables <STRONG>LINES</STRONG> and <STRONG>COLUMNS</STRONG> exist,
145 their values are used. If these environment variables do not exist
146 and the program is running in a window, the current window size is
147 used. Otherwise, if the environment variables do not exist, the
148 values for <STRONG>lines</STRONG> and <STRONG>columns</STRONG> specified in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database are
151 Parameterized strings should be passed through <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> to instantiate
152 them. All <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> strings (including the output of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>) should be
153 printed with <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> or <STRONG>putp</STRONG>. Call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> to restore the tty
154 modes before exiting [see <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>].
156 Programs which use cursor addressing should
158 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> upon startup and
160 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before exiting.
162 Programs which execute shell subprocesses should
164 <STRONG>o</STRONG> call <STRONG>reset_shell_mode</STRONG> and output <STRONG>exit_ca_mode</STRONG> before the shell is
167 <STRONG>o</STRONG> output <STRONG>enter_ca_mode</STRONG> and call <STRONG>reset_prog_mode</STRONG> after returning from
170 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine reads in the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> database, initializing the
171 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> structures, but does not set up the output virtualization
172 structures used by <STRONG>curses</STRONG>. These are its parameters:
174 <EM>term</EM> is the terminal type, a character string. If <EM>term</EM> is null, the
175 environment variable <STRONG>TERM</STRONG> is used.
178 is the file descriptor used for getting and setting terminal
181 Higher-level applications use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG> for initializing the
182 terminal, passing an output <EM>stream</EM> rather than a <EM>descriptor</EM>.
183 In curses, the two are the same because <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> calls
184 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, passing the file descriptor derived from its output
188 points to an optional location where an error status can be
189 returned to the caller. If <EM>errret</EM> is not null, then <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
190 returns <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> and stores a status value in the integer
191 pointed to by <EM>errret</EM>. A return value of <STRONG>OK</STRONG> combined with
192 status of <STRONG>1</STRONG> in <EM>errret</EM> is normal.
194 If <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> is returned, examine <EM>errret</EM>:
196 <STRONG>1</STRONG> means that the terminal is hardcopy, cannot be used for
197 <EM>curses</EM> applications.
199 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a hardcopy type by
200 checking the <STRONG>hc</STRONG> (<STRONG>hardcopy</STRONG>) capability.
202 <STRONG>0</STRONG> means that the terminal could not be found, or that it is
203 a generic type, having too little information for <EM>curses</EM>
206 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> determines if the entry is a generic type by
207 checking the <STRONG>gn</STRONG> (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) capability.
209 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> means that the <EM>terminfo</EM> database could not be found.
211 If <EM>errret</EM> is null, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> prints an error message upon
212 finding an error and exits. Thus, the simplest call is:
214 <STRONG>setupterm((char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0);</STRONG>,
216 which uses all the defaults and sends the output to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>.
219 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></H3><PRE>
220 The <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> routine stores its information about the terminal in a
221 <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure pointed to by the global variable <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>. If it
222 detects an error, or decides that the terminal is unsuitable (hardcopy
223 or generic), it discards this information, making it not available to
226 If <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> is called repeatedly for the same terminal type, it will
227 reuse the information. It maintains only one copy of a given
228 terminal's capabilities in memory. If it is called for different
229 terminal types, <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates new storage for each set of
230 terminal capabilities.
232 The <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> routine sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to <EM>nterm</EM>, and makes all of the
233 <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string variables use the values from
234 <EM>nterm</EM>. It returns the old value of <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>.
236 The <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG> routine frees the space pointed to by <EM>oterm</EM> and makes
237 it available for further use. If <EM>oterm</EM> is the same as <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG>,
238 references to any of the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> boolean, numeric, and string
239 variables thereafter may refer to invalid memory locations until
240 another <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been called.
242 The <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> routine is similar to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> and <STRONG>initscr</STRONG>, except
243 that it is called after restoring memory to a previous state (for
244 example, when reloading a game saved as a core image dump).
245 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> assumes that the windows and the input and output options
246 are the same as when memory was saved, but the terminal type and baud
247 rate may be different. Accordingly, <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG> saves various tty
248 state bits, calls <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, and then restores the bits.
251 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></H3><PRE>
252 The <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> routine instantiates the string <EM>str</EM> with parameters <EM>pi</EM>. A
253 pointer is returned to the result of <EM>str</EM> with the parameters applied.
254 Application developers should keep in mind these quirks of the
257 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Although <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>'s actual parameters may be integers or strings, the
258 prototype expects <STRONG>long</STRONG> (integer) values.
260 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Aside from the <STRONG>set_attributes</STRONG> (<STRONG>sgr</STRONG>) capability, most terminal
261 capabilities require no more than one or two parameters.
263 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Padding information is ignored by <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>; it is interpreted by
264 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>.
266 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The capability string is null-terminated. Use "\200" where an
267 ASCII NUL is needed in the output.
269 <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is a newer form of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> which uses <EM><stdarg.h></EM> rather than a
270 fixed-parameter list. Its numeric parameters are integers (int) rather
273 Both <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> assume that the application passes parameters
274 consistent with the terminal description. Two extensions are provided
275 as alternatives to deal with untrusted data:
277 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>tiparm_s</STRONG> is an extension which is a safer formatting function than
278 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> or <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, because it allows the developer to tell the curses
279 library how many parameters to expect in the parameter list, and
280 which may be string parameters.
282 The <EM>mask</EM> parameter has one bit set for each of the parameters (up
283 to 9) which will be passed as char* rather than numbers.
285 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The extension <STRONG>tiscan_s</STRONG> allows the application to inspect a
286 formatting capability to see what the curses library would assume.
289 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></H3><PRE>
290 The <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> routine applies padding information (i.e., by interpreting
291 marker embedded in the terminfo capability such as "$<5>" as 5
292 milliseconds) to the string <EM>str</EM> and outputs it:
294 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <EM>str</EM> parameter must be a terminfo string variable or the return
295 value from <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>, <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG>, or <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>.
297 The <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> and <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> functions are part of the <EM>termcap</EM> interface,
298 which happens to share this function name with the <EM>terminfo</EM>
301 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>affcnt</EM> is the number of lines affected, or 1 if not applicable.
303 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>putc</EM> is a <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine to which the characters are passed,
306 The <STRONG>putp</STRONG> routine calls <STRONG>tputs(</STRONG><EM>str</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>putchar)</STRONG>. The output of <STRONG>putp</STRONG>
307 always goes to <STRONG>stdout</STRONG>, rather than the <EM>filedes</EM> specified in <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
309 The <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine displays the string on the terminal in the video
310 attribute mode <EM>attrs</EM>, which is any combination of the attributes listed
311 in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>. The characters are passed to the <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>-like routine
314 The <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> routine is like the <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> routine, except that it outputs
315 through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
317 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines correspond to vidattr and vidputs,
318 respectively. They use a set of arguments for representing the video
319 attributes plus color, i.e.,
321 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>attrs</EM> of type <STRONG>attr_t</STRONG> for the attributes and
323 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pair</EM> of type <STRONG>short</STRONG> for the color-pair number.
325 The <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> routines are designed to use the attribute
326 constants with the <STRONG>WA_</STRONG> prefix.
328 X/Open Curses reserves the <EM>opts</EM> argument for future use, saying that
329 applications must provide a null pointer for that argument. As an
330 extension, this implementation allows <EM>opts</EM> to be used as a pointer to
331 <STRONG>int</STRONG>, which overrides the <EM>pair</EM> (<STRONG>short</STRONG>) argument.
333 The <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> routine provides low-level cursor motion. It takes effect
334 immediately (rather than at the next refresh). Unlike the other low-
335 level output functions, which either write to the standard output or
336 pass an output function parameter, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> uses an output file descriptor
337 derived from the output stream parameter of <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">newterm(3x)</A></STRONG>.
339 While <STRONG>putp</STRONG> and <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> are low-level functions which do not use the high-
340 level curses state, they are declared in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG> because System V
341 did this (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>).
344 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></H3><PRE>
345 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG>, <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> and <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routines return the value of the
346 capability corresponding to the <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> <EM>capname</EM> passed to them, such
347 as <STRONG>xenl</STRONG>. The <EM>capname</EM> for each capability is given in the table column
348 entitled <EM>capname</EM> code in the capabilities section of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
350 These routines return special values to denote errors.
352 The <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> routine returns
354 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a boolean capability, or
356 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
358 The <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> routine returns
360 <STRONG>-2</STRONG> if <EM>capname</EM> is not a numeric capability, or
362 <STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
364 The <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> routine returns
366 <STRONG>(char</STRONG> <STRONG>*)-1</STRONG>
367 if <EM>capname</EM> is not a string capability, or
369 <STRONG>0</STRONG> if it is canceled or absent from the terminal description.
372 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></H3><PRE>
373 These null-terminated arrays contain
375 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the short <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("codes"),
377 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the <EM>termcap</EM> names ("names"), and
379 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the long <EM>terminfo</EM> names ("fnames")
381 for each of the predefined <EM>terminfo</EM> variables:
383 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*boolnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*boolfnames[]</STRONG>
384 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*numnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*numfnames[]</STRONG>
385 <STRONG>const</STRONG> <STRONG>char</STRONG> <STRONG>*strnames[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strcodes[]</STRONG>, <STRONG>*strfnames[]</STRONG>
388 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></H3><PRE>
389 Each successful call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allocates memory to hold the terminal
390 description. As a side-effect, it sets <STRONG>cur_term</STRONG> to point to this
391 memory. If an application calls
393 <STRONG>del_curterm(cur_term);</STRONG>
395 the memory will be freed.
397 The formatting functions <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> extend the storage allocated
398 by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>:
400 <STRONG>o</STRONG> the "static" terminfo variables [a-z]. Before ncurses 6.3, those
401 were shared by all screens. With ncurses 6.3, those are allocated
402 per screen. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
404 <STRONG>o</STRONG> to improve performance, ncurses 6.3 caches the result of analyzing
405 terminfo strings for their parameter types. That is stored as a
406 binary tree referenced from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> structure.
408 The higher-level <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> and <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> functions use <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>. Normally
409 they do not free this memory, but it is possible to do that using the
410 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">delscreen(3x)</A></STRONG> function.
413 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a></H2><PRE>
414 Routines that return an integer return <STRONG>ERR</STRONG> upon failure and <STRONG>OK</STRONG> (SVr4
415 only specifies "an integer value other than <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>") upon successful
416 completion, unless otherwise noted in the preceding routine
419 Routines that return pointers always return <STRONG>NULL</STRONG> on error.
421 X/Open defines no error conditions. In this implementation
423 <STRONG>del_curterm</STRONG>
424 returns an error if its terminal parameter is null.
426 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> calls <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>, returning the same error-codes.
428 <STRONG>restartterm</STRONG>
429 returns an error if the associated call to <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> returns an
432 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>
433 returns an error if it cannot allocate enough memory, or create
434 the initial windows (stdscr, curscr, newscr). Other error
435 conditions are documented above.
437 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG>
438 returns a null if the capability would require unexpected
439 parameters, e.g., too many, too few, or incorrect types
440 (strings where integers are expected, or vice versa).
442 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>
443 returns an error if the string parameter is null. It does not
444 detect I/O errors: X/Open states that <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> ignores the return
445 value of the output function <EM>putc</EM>.
448 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></H3><PRE>
449 This implementation provides a few macros for compatibility with
450 systems before SVr4 (see <EM>HISTORY</EM>). Those include <STRONG>crmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG>,
451 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>nocrmode</STRONG>, <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG>, <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG>, and <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>.
453 In SVr4, those are found in <STRONG><curses.h></STRONG>, but except for <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, are
454 likewise macros. The one function, <STRONG>setterm</STRONG>, is mentioned in the manual
455 page. The manual page notes that the <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> routine was replaced by
456 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>, stating that the call
458 <STRONG>setupterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>,</STRONG> <STRONG>1,</STRONG> <STRONG>(int</STRONG> <STRONG>*)0)</STRONG>
460 provides the same functionality as <STRONG>setterm(</STRONG><EM>term</EM><STRONG>)</STRONG>, and is not
461 recommended for new programs. This implementation provides each of
462 those symbols as macros for BSD compatibility,
465 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
466 SVr2 introduced the terminfo feature. Its programming manual mentioned
467 the following low-level functions.
469 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
470 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
471 <STRONG>fixterm</STRONG> restore tty to "in curses" state
473 <STRONG>gettmode</STRONG> establish current tty modes
474 <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> low level cursor motion
475 <STRONG>putp</STRONG> utility function that uses <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> to send characters via
476 <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>.
477 <STRONG>resetterm</STRONG> set tty modes to "out of curses" state
478 <STRONG>resetty</STRONG> reset tty flags to stored value
479 <STRONG>saveterm</STRONG> save current modes as "in curses" state
480 <STRONG>savetty</STRONG> store current tty flags
481 <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
482 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> establish terminal with given type
483 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> instantiate a string expression with parameters
484 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding information to a string
485 <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> like <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG>, but outputs through <STRONG>putchar</STRONG>
486 <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> output a string to put terminal in a specified video
489 The programming manual also mentioned functions provided for <EM>termcap</EM>
490 compatibility (commenting that they "may go away at a later date").
492 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
493 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
494 <STRONG>tgetent</STRONG> look up <EM>termcap</EM> entry for given <EM>name</EM>
495 <STRONG>tgetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
496 <STRONG>tgetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
497 <STRONG>tgetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
498 <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> apply parameters to given capability
499 <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> apply padding to capability, calling a function to put
502 Early terminfo programs obtained capability values from the <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG>
503 structure initialized by <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG>.
505 SVr3 extended terminfo by adding functions to retrieve capability
506 values (like the termcap interface), and reusing <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>:
508 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Description</STRONG>
509 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
510 <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> get boolean entry for given <EM>id</EM>
511 <STRONG>tigetnum</STRONG> get numeric entry for given <EM>id</EM>
512 <STRONG>tigetstr</STRONG> get string entry for given <EM>id</EM>
514 SVr3 also replaced several of the SVr2 <EM>terminfo</EM> functions which had no
515 counterpart in the <EM>termcap</EM> interface, documenting them as obsolete.
517 <STRONG>Function</STRONG> <STRONG>Replaced</STRONG> <STRONG>by</STRONG>
518 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
520 fixterm reset_prog_mode
521 gettmode <EM>n/a</EM>
523 resetterm reset_shell_mode
524 saveterm def_prog_mode
527 SVr3 kept the <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> functions, along with <STRONG>putp</STRONG>,
528 <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> and <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. The latter were needed to support padding, and
529 handling functions such as <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> (which used more than the two
530 parameters supported by <STRONG>tgoto</STRONG>).
532 SVr3 introduced the functions for switching between terminal
533 descriptions, e.g., <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG>. Some of that was incremental
534 improvements to the SVr2 library:
536 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The <STRONG>TERMINAL</STRONG> type definition was introduced in SVr3.01, for the
537 <STRONG>term</STRONG> structure provided in SVr2.
539 <STRONG>o</STRONG> The various global variables such as <STRONG>boolnames</STRONG> were mentioned in
540 the programming manual at this point, though the variables were
543 SVr4 added the <STRONG>vid_attr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vid_puts</STRONG> functions.
545 There are other low-level functions declared in the <EM>curses</EM> header files
546 on Unix systems, but none were documented. The functions marked
547 "obsolete" remained in use by the Unix <STRONG>vi(1)</STRONG> editor.
550 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
552 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></H3><PRE>
553 The functions marked as extensions were designed for <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>, and
554 are not found in SVr4 curses, 4.4BSD curses, or any other previous
558 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></H3><PRE>
559 X/Open notes that <STRONG>vidattr</STRONG> and <STRONG>vidputs</STRONG> may be macros.
561 The function <STRONG>setterm</STRONG> is not described by X/Open and must be considered
562 non-portable. All other functions are as described by X/Open.
565 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></H3><PRE>
566 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> copies the terminal name to the array <STRONG>ttytype</STRONG>. This is not
567 part of X/Open Curses, but is assumed by some applications.
569 Other implementions may not declare the capability name arrays. Some
570 provide them without declaring them. X/Open does not specify them.
572 Extended terminal capability names, e.g., as defined by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>, are not
573 stored in the arrays described here.
576 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></H3><PRE>
577 Older versions of <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> assumed that the file descriptor passed to
578 <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> from <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG> uses buffered I/O, and would write to
579 the corresponding stream. In addition to the limitation that the
580 terminal was left in block-buffered mode on exit (like System V
581 curses), it was problematic because <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> did not allow a reliable
582 way to cleanup on receiving SIGTSTP.
584 The current version (ncurses6) uses output buffers managed directly by
585 <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>. Some of the low-level functions described in this manual page
586 write to the standard output. They are not signal-safe. The high-
587 level functions in <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> use alternate versions of these functions
588 using the more reliable buffering scheme.
591 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></H3><PRE>
592 The X/Open Curses prototypes are based on the SVr4 curses header
593 declarations, which were defined at the same time the C language was
594 first standardized in the late 1980s.
596 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses uses <STRONG>const</STRONG> less effectively than a later design
597 might, in some cases applying it needlessly to values are already
598 constant, and in most cases overlooking parameters which normally
599 would use <STRONG>const</STRONG>. Using constant parameters for functions which do
600 not use <STRONG>const</STRONG> may prevent the program from compiling. On the other
601 hand, <EM>writable</EM> <EM>strings</EM> are an obsolescent feature.
603 As an extension, this implementation can be configured to change
604 the function prototypes to use the <STRONG>const</STRONG> keyword. The <EM>ncurses</EM> ABI
605 6 enables this feature by default.
607 <STRONG>o</STRONG> X/Open Curses prototypes <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> with a fixed number of parameters,
608 rather than a variable argument list.
610 This implementation uses a variable argument list, but can be
611 configured to use the fixed-parameter list. Portable applications
612 should provide 9 parameters after the format; zeroes are fine for
615 In response to review comments by Thomas E. Dickey, X/Open Curses
616 Issue 7 proposed the <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> function in mid-2009.
618 While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
619 available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
620 configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
622 Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
624 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
625 nine on each call is awkward.
627 Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
628 the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That
629 approach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standardized.
630 Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
633 <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
634 such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string
635 parameters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string
636 parameters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
638 The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
639 an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
640 cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
641 places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
643 The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
644 table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
647 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></H3><PRE>
648 If configured to use the terminal-driver, e.g., for the MinGW port,
650 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> interprets a missing/empty TERM variable as the special
653 SVr4 curses uses the special value "dumb".
655 The difference between the two is that the former uses the <STRONG>gn</STRONG>
656 (<STRONG>generic_type</STRONG>) terminfo capability, while the latter does not. A
657 generic terminal is unsuitable for full-screen applications.
659 <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> allows explicit use of the the windows console driver by
660 checking if $TERM is set to "#win32con" or an abbreviation of that
664 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></H3><PRE>
665 In System V Release 4, <STRONG>set_curterm</STRONG> has an <STRONG>int</STRONG> return type and returns
666 <STRONG>OK</STRONG> or <STRONG>ERR</STRONG>. We have chosen to implement the X/Open Curses semantics.
668 In System V Release 4, the third argument of <STRONG>tputs</STRONG> has the type <STRONG>int</STRONG>
669 <STRONG>(*putc)(char)</STRONG>.
671 At least one implementation of X/Open Curses (Solaris) returns a value
672 other than <STRONG>OK</STRONG>/<STRONG>ERR</STRONG> from <STRONG>tputs</STRONG>. That returns the length of the string,
673 and does no error-checking.
675 X/Open notes that after calling <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>, the curses state may not match
676 the actual terminal state, and that an application should touch and
677 refresh the window before resuming normal curses calls. Both <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG>
678 and System V Release 4 curses implement <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> using the SCREEN data
679 allocated in either <STRONG>initscr</STRONG> or <STRONG>newterm</STRONG>. So though it is documented as
680 a terminfo function, <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG> is really a curses function which is not
683 X/Open states that the old location must be given for <STRONG>mvcur</STRONG>. This
684 implementation allows the caller to use -1's for the old ordinates. In
685 that case, the old location is unknown.
688 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
689 <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_initscr.3x.html">curs_initscr(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_kernel.3x.html">curs_kernel(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_memleaks.3x.html">curs_memleaks(3x)</A></STRONG>,
690 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_variables.3x.html">curs_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>putc(3)</STRONG>,
691 <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
695 ncurses 6.4 2023-09-23 <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>
699 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
700 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
701 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
703 <li><a href="#h3-Initialization">Initialization</a></li>
704 <li><a href="#h3-The-Terminal-State">The Terminal State</a></li>
705 <li><a href="#h3-Formatting-Output">Formatting Output</a></li>
706 <li><a href="#h3-Output-Functions">Output Functions</a></li>
707 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Functions">Terminal Capability Functions</a></li>
708 <li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Capability-Names">Terminal Capability Names</a></li>
709 <li><a href="#h3-Releasing-Memory">Releasing Memory</a></li>
712 <li><a href="#h2-RETURN-VALUE">RETURN VALUE</a>
714 <li><a href="#h3-Compatibility-macros">Compatibility macros</a></li>
717 <li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
718 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
720 <li><a href="#h3-Extensions">Extensions</a></li>
721 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-functions">Legacy functions</a></li>
722 <li><a href="#h3-Legacy-data">Legacy data</a></li>
723 <li><a href="#h3-Output-buffering">Output buffering</a></li>
724 <li><a href="#h3-Function-prototypes">Function prototypes</a></li>
725 <li><a href="#h3-Special-TERM-treatment">Special TERM treatment</a></li>
726 <li><a href="#h3-Other-portability-issues">Other portability issues</a></li>
729 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>